Hinder

Formation, early history and Far From Close: 2001–2004

Before the band formed, Austin Winkler sang in an Oklahoma City cover band until July 2001, when he met drummer Cody Hanson and guitarist Joe Garvey at a college party. Soon after meeting, the three formed Hinder. Hanson commented on Austin Winkler shortly after the band formed saying he was "blown away" and "he has the kind of charisma very few people have and that unique voice. You can't really compare him to anybody." After recruiting bassist Cole Parker, they recorded a 4 track demo disc, with the track listing "Someday", "Like Me", "Broken", and "Worthless Home". The tracks "Someday" and "Broken" would later be re-recorded and put on their debut EP Far From Close and the other two tracks "Like Me" and "Worthless Home" still remain unreleased, only being able to find them on their demo CDs, although they are now posted on YouTube. The band began performing at an Oklahoma City club called The Blue Note, building a local fan base. Profits from the shows went to advertising, as well as paying the expenses for the group's first release. In April 2003, Hinder entered the March Bandness contest for Oklahoma City radio station KHBZ-FM (94.7). They made it to the Final Four out of a field of thirty-two, ultimately losing to the OKC group Falcon Five-O. After saving enough money from local concerts the band's debut EP Far From Close was released in 2003 on the independent label Brickden Records and sold around 5,000 copies. A year later in late 2004 or early 2005 it is still unknown, bassist Mike Rodden and rhythm guitarist Mark King joined the band. Cody Hanson, along with former lead singer Austin Winkler, wrote the majority of the band's music on their first four albums.

Extreme Behavior: 2005–2007

After the release of Far from Close, Hinder was offered record deals by Atlantic Records, Roadrunner Records, and Universal Records, eventually signing with Universal Records in 2005; later that year, their major-label debut album, Extreme Behavior, was released. The album was produced by Brian Howes, who, along with Cody Hanson and Austin Winkler, wrote most of the material on the album. The album was engineered by Mike Fraser and Jay Van Poederooyen. The album reached triple-platinum certification for sales,

Hinder toured and released singles in support of their first album. Hinder's debut single, "Get Stoned", was released in October 2005. The band's second single, "Lips of an Angel", entered charts in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore; the song lasted for 41 weeks in the New Zealand charts, two weeks of which were spent at the number one spot. The band's third single, "How Long", was released in September 2006 and appeared at number six on the US Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

In 2006, as a Christmas gift to their fan club, the Hinder Army, the band recorded their version of the public domain song "A Little Drummer Boy" and released it on their fan club website.

Their second song to be released in New Zealand was "Better Than Me", which spent three weeks on the New Zealand charts, peaking at number 16.

In 2007, Hinder was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, and in October of the same year, the band released their limited edition CD/DVD of Extreme Behavior entitled You Can't Make This S**t Up.

Take It to the Limit: 2008–2009

The first single from the band's second album, "Use Me", was released on July 15, 2008 and peaked at No. 3 on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The second album, Take It to the Limit, was released on November 4, 2008; the album marked a change in style in Hinder's music in that it moved the band in a slightly more glam metal-influenced direction. The title track features Mötley Crüe's Mick Mars on guitar. They announced the release of the album's second single, "Without You," through their official MySpace page on September 13, 2008. Take It To the Limit debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 with 81,000 sales its first week and ended up going Gold in the US

Through late 2008, Hinder headlined the Jägermeister Music Tour with Trapt and Rev Theory also on the bill.

In early 2009, Hinder embarked on Mötley Crüe's Saints Of Los Angeles Tour, which also included Theory of a Deadman and The Last Vegas.

In July, Hinder embarked on Nickelback's Dark Horse Tour, which ran through Live Nation outdoor amphitheaters; other bands involved on the tour were Papa Roach and Saving Abel.

On March 27, 2013 Take It To The Limit was certified gold in the US.

All American Nightmare: 2010–2011

During early 2010, the band was engaged in writing and recording material for their third album, titled All American Nightmare. The album was released on December 7, 2010, with the first single, the title track, released on September 14, 2010. Although the album was originally planned to be produced by Howard Benson, Kevin Churko was later announced to be the producer.

Winkler said that the group started recording during the touring cycle for Take It To The Limit. “We wrote 70 or so songs, recorded about 50 and cut it down to 12," the singer explained. "It’s something that we’ve never done before, so it’s like our ultimate baby. A lot of the [other] songs could be shit, too, we don’t know. You don’t really know until you put it out there and have more than two people’s opinion on it.” Both he and drummer Cody Hanson mentioned the song "Memory" as one that was a strong contender for the final cut. "It’s about being with your chick — the chick you’ve been with for a while, not some chick you’ve met on the road — and about being able to still have a good time with your wife or long-time girlfriend," said Hanson. "I’ve been in a relationship myself for nine years, so it was cool to write a song like that."

Welcome to the Freakshow & departure of Austin John: 2012–2013

On August 9, 2012, Hinder announced via Facebook and Twitter that their then-upcoming album would be titled Welcome to the Freakshow. It was released on December 4, 2012. Hinder released their first single, "Save Me", on August 30.

Hinder announced the Bare Bones tour to support the album in late fall 2012.

On July 10, 2013 it was announced that lead singer Austin John had entered rehab, and would not be touring with the band for the remainder of the year. Marshal Dutton, a close friend of the band, was brought in to fill in on lead vocals for a couple shows until Jared Weeks, of Saving Abel, joined the band to fill in for Winkler for the rest of the tour.

On November 20, 2013, it was announced via Loudwire that Austin John had left the band.

When the Smoke Clears: 2014–2015

After finishing touring with Jared Weeks, the band entered a long period of inactivity.

On July 7, 2014 the band posted a video on their social media sites apologizing to fans for their inactivity and to announce that they had been writing new songs for the new album while searching for a new lead singer. They also announced a string of shows throughout the rest of the summer. Although never announced officially, the band played their shows with Nashville-based singer Nolan Neal on lead vocals.

On December 9, 2014 Hinder officially announced their new album, and that it would be titled When The Smoke Clears. The album is slated to be released in the spring of 2015.

On January 20, 2015 Hinder officially announced that Marshal Dutton would be their new lead singer, via social media sites. Dutton has been affiliated with the band since his former band Faktion toured with Hinder and Rev Theory on the Girls Gone Wild tour back in 2006. He had also been writing and recording for the band since 2009 when they were going through the writing and recording sessions for All American Nightmare. Dutton has been working on every Hinder album since, even co-producing Welcome to the Freakshow alongside drummer Cody Hanson.

On March 17, 2015 the band released a preview of the first song on their record, "Rather Hate Than Hurt" via loudwire, making it the second song to be released since founding and former vocalist Austin John departed the band in November 2013. The band also revealed their new album When The Smoke Clears will be released on May 12, 2015.

The band went on tour in support of the new album starting in March 2015, they did a Summer tour throughout the U.S. with Full Devil Jacket and AGES APART supporting them.

In November 2015, Hinder announced their Winter tour with Shaman's Harvest , Within Reason, Sons Of Texas and AGES APART.

Stripped EP and Untitled Sixth Studio Album: 2016-present

After playing a show at the venue "Ziggy's By The Sea" in Wilmington, North Carolina the group did an interview with The Baltimore Sun and talked about the band's place over the course of the past year. The group stated that they had no choice but to find a new lead singer in order to keep the band alive. The band went on to say that the change in singers was a fresh start for both Hinder and Austin John, and that they are searching for another hit song as big as "Lips of an Angel".

Also announced during the interview with the Baltimore Sun the band confirmed the group would release a then-untitled acoustic EP and a full-length studio album with all new original material. The projects were slated to be released in 2016.

On March 7, 2016 the band announced that their upcoming acoustic EP would be titled Stripped and will be released May 13, 2016. The EP will feature six tracks with one newly recorded track titled "Not An Addict" which was originally recorded by K'S CHOICE.

The band went out on tour in support of the new EP on the "Stripped Tour" with new rock band Like a Storm as the opening act. the tour consisted of 22 shows over the course of June through July 2016.

On October 9, 2016 the band posted pictures from the studio on their official Facebook and Instagram accounts, and announced they were in the studio working on their sixth studio album with pianist and songwriter Sarah Thiele.

In mid December 2016, the band shared a picture of singer Marshal Dutton and drummer Cody Hanson with the caption "Just taking a nice break from working on the album in Nicaragua!".

On March 2, 2017 the band announced a summer tour with Nonpoint.

Other projects

Tours

Musical influences and style

Their music has been described by critics as, hard rock, post-grunge, alternative rock, Glam metal, and alternative metal.

The band's influences include: Bush, Collective Soul, Creed, Foo Fighters, Guns N' Roses, Kiss, Nickelback, Nirvana, Soundgarden, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Rainbow, Bob Seger, Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, AC/DC, and Mötley Crüe.

Discography